CIA probe finds secret Pentagon group manipulated intelligence on Iraqi th

[Nambe]

By Jason Leopold - Online Journal

July 25, 2003—A half-dozen former CIA agents investigating prewar intelligence have found that a secret Pentagon committee, set up by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld in October 2001, manipulated reams of intelligence information prepared by the spy agency on the so-called Iraqi threat and then delivered it to top White House officials who used it to win support for a war in Iraq.

The former CIA agents were asked to examine prewar intelligence last year by Rumsfeld and CIA Director George Tenet. The former agents will present a final report on their findings to the Pentagon, the CIA and possibly Congress later this year. More than a dozen calls to the White House, the CIA, the National Security Council and the Pentagon for comment were not returned.

The ad hoc committee, called the Office of Special Plans, headed by Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith and other Pentagon hawks, described the worst-case scenarios in terms of Iraq's alleged stockpile of chemical and biological weapons and claimed the country was close to acquiring nuclear weapons, according to four of the CIA agents, speaking on the condition of anonymity because the information is still classified, who conducted a preliminary review of the intelligence. ---

More than a dozen CIA agents responsible for writing intelligence reports for the agency told the former CIA agents investigating the accuracy of the intelligence reports they were pressured by the Pentagon and the Office of Special Plans to hype and exaggerate intelligence to show Iraq as being an imminent threat to the security of the U.S. ---

Ride Don’t Drive It’s Global Cool

[hang a left]

1. OMG

Shit HAS hit the fan, FAN is on high!

[Nambe]

9. YIKES...Google "Office of Special Plans" and get the popcorn..

It has a lot of coverage. I feel out of the loop. Reuters did a story on them in May. Sheeesh.

[Nottingham]

2. OSP! YEP! Robert Joseph Special Assistant to the President

Rumsfeld now is in deeper! :bounce:

Maybe this is why we lost Generals! Like White????.....and others!!

[ignatius]

3. Holy shit, Rumsfeld amd Wolfowitz and the Office of

Special Plans manipulating CIA evidence. It looks like Rummy built his Office of disinformation after all and with a little luck it will bring his ass down.

You just know Cheney was lurking somewhere in the shadows like a cockroach.

[alfredo]

37. It was quite clear

that he was setting up the OSP for disinformation, and it was also clear that it would be a disaster.

[radwriter0555]

38. I TOLD YOU SO... dang no one ever listens to me...

Geesh.

[indictrichardperle]

4. If this ever gets to Congressional Hearings

It will bring about the Impeachment of Cheney, the resignations of Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz and Feith. That is a BlockBuster of a scandal.....

My fears are the PNAC crowd, will do something very desperate and evil to prevent this scandal from reaching Congress. Blatant fraud and lies, for which Americans are dying daily.....

Make no mistake, this scandal is out there.......

[ignatius]

8. Cornered criminals do desperate things...N. Korea maybe?

A nuclear showdown,patriot act enforced, no elections..who knows with these f*&king madmen?

[Homer12]

15. Unfourtunalty...

... the Only way it can be stopped if their are any real republicans or conservative politicians that are left that actually care about the consitution and the Bill of Rights; that know that their duty is to their constituants and the foundation for our government, before ANY president.

Name one, then they'll be recalled?

[lumpy]

5. Anyone found other sources for this info ?

This is big....

[Dover]

17. Isn't Jason Leopold the journalist who was dragged through the mud

by the NYTimes and Salon about 6 or 8 months ago for some questionable facts or emails in his story on White? Nice to see he's still at it. However I'd like to see another source also.

Is he alone breaking this story?

[Emboldened Chimp]

39. Sy Hersch broke this in the New Yorker

a few months ago. Will try to locate link. Excellent read, as always.

[slack]

23. guardian

The spies who pushed for war
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,999737,00.html

[ignatius]

25. These guys are "off the payroll and beyond

Congressional oversight." That really does sound like Iran-contra and the office of disinformation Rummy wanted.

Great article, thanks for the link.

Glad to see that fat bastard Ginrich continues to work for America. What is it with this administation and all the old rejects from Bush senior?

[maryallen]

31. Reminds me of Iran-Contra ... on STEROIDS:

"... off the payroll and beyond
Congressional oversight."

[Creamed Corn]

32. Beyond Congressional oversight?

Is that anything like "No controlling legal authority"?

[MissMarple]

6. And the dance continues.

Why am I not smiling. I think I must have read too much science fiction at an impressionable age. But, then again, can one ever read too much science fiction? I have no mouth and I must scream. Thank you Harlan Ellison. Good night.

[Dover]

7. Yahooooooo! This is a GOOD week! Finally someone is nailing

the Pentagon pariahs!

[neverforget]

10. This needs to hit the major newspapers and cable newschannels

and then I'll be really happy. This is great news, but to moron-Americans "if it's not on TV, it didn't happen." All of us at DU knew this for a long time, but the rest of America is just starting to wake up. Let there be light!

[SummerGrace]

11. From sf.indymedia

http://sf.indymedia.org/news/2003/07/1629064.php

Vincent Cannistrano, who worked for the CIA for 27 years, told the National Journal last month that the OSP "incorporated a lot of debatable intelligence, and it was not coordinated with the intelligence community."

[SimpleMan]

12. Somebody needs to send this artcle to Tweety...

...this is great stuff to support his position.

Hell, send it to anybody that will listen.

[farmboxer]

13. Cheney Needs That Oil

and he wants it now!

[Nottingham]

14. I think what we have here is a CIA REBELLION!!

Whoo Hoo :bounce:

Something must have scared the Hell out of them
Probably the Mission from God thing! :crazy:

[SummerGrace]

16. It's CIA and British intel

Sources in both the British and US intelligence community are now equating the JIC with the Office of Special Plans (OSP) in the US Pentagon. The OSP was set up by Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to gather intelligence which would prove the case for war. In a staggering attack on the OSP, former CIA officer Larry Johnson told the Sunday Herald the OSP was 'dangerous for US national security and a threat to world peace', adding that it 'lied and manipulated intelligence to further its agenda of removing Saddam'.
He added: 'It's a group of ideologues with pre-determined notions of truth and reality. They take bits of intelligence to support their agenda and ignore anything contrary. They should be eliminated.'
http://www.sundayherald.com/print34491

[maggrwaggr]

44. thank god for the British press

they're the ones that broke this thing open.

As to our own press, they should all be shut down. They're a disgrace.

[The Night Owl]

18. OSP... great... another secret government.

This is essentially Iran-Contra all over again, but far more egregious.

The same crowd who tried to set up and operate a secret government within our government during the Reagan years have simply picked up where they left off. What's hilarious is the fact that they thought they could get away with it this time. They will never learn.

Hopefully, the American people have learned to stop electing these kinds of people into office.

Hopefully, this latest story will convince Americans to once and for all reject the Bush dynasty, all the neocons, and all the old skulls from the Reagan administration.

Down with PNAC and their obtuse "interests"!

By the way, are any mainstream media sources picking up on this latest gem of a story?

[Octafish]

19. OSP became operational 10-11

Absolutely spot-on, Owl. A few, recurring players in the Secret Government get exposed a bit, here and there, but keep on pressing on to empty the Treasury and shaft the nation.

It certainly is ironic to consider the Bush Organized Crime Family as mere stooges for the Secret Government. How else could these crooks get away with the October Surprise, S&L plundering, Inslaw-PROMIS, BCCI, Iran-Contra, Arming Saddam-BNL, and so forth and so on?

Still, with the sudden increase in actual journalism, even the Secret Gov might have noticed Bushler and the neo-Reich are nothing but degreed gangsters, scoundrels and wastrels.

These latest reports are a sign that this could be it. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

Regarding mainstream media: The New York Times has given OSP some coverage. Seymour Hersh's articles in The New Yorker have connected a lot of OSP dots as well. Hersh also tied PNAC Richard Perle to Adnan Khashoggi recently. Perle asked for $100 million investment in his private investment group, Trireme Partnerships. I kid you not.

Most importantly: A hearty welcome to DU, The Night Owl!

EDIT: Ptypos.

[study_war_no_more]

20. wait a minuet they have been getting away with it.

this is post revolution amerika.

[grasswire]

21. this doesn't quite make sense to me

So a small group of former CIA agents has been asked by Rumsfeld to investigate the OSP? Does that make sense??

"July 25, 2003—A half-dozen former CIA agents investigating prewar intelligence have found that a secret Pentagon committee, set up by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld in October 2001, manipulated reams of intelligence information prepared by the spy agency on the so-called Iraqi threat and then delivered it to top White House officials who used it to win support for a war in Iraq.

The former CIA agents were asked to examine prewar intelligence last year by Rumsfeld and CIA Director George Tenet. The former agents will present a final report on their findings to the Pentagon, the CIA and possibly Congress later this year. More than a dozen calls to the White House, the CIA, the National Security Council and the Pentagon for comment were not returned."

Can anyone find from this who actually tasked this half-dozen former agents?

[seventhson]

22. I think its poor grammar

Someone ELSE (WHO?) asked these guys to investigate the intelligence proivided by Rummy and Tenet.

Who is the right question. The article makes it look like Rummy is asking ex-agents to investigate his own current secret stuff.

I doubt that.

Clarification please?

I think I have read about this elsewhere but have no links.

[SummerGrace]

24. From CBS:

The New York Times says the review was suggested by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld before the war, when Pentagon officials expressed irritation at CIA reports that defense officials felt understated the links between Saddam Hussein's regime and al Qaeda. The review was meant to test the reliability of U.S. intelligence in general.

CIA director George Tenet will oversee the review, and has named current and former CIA analysts to conduct it, the Times reports. They'll review classified reports produced by the CIA, National Intelligence Council, the Defense Intelligence Agency and other intelligence units.

Officials also dismissed reports of a feud between the CIA and the Pentagon over intelligence. The CIA ombudsman reports only one complaint by an agency analyst that intelligence data was misused, and it was deemed to be unfounded.

However, a driving force behind the review are analysts who feel the intelligence about Iraq was politicized. Some CIA analysts were angered by the move, and claimed the Pentagon team examined the reports with a political agenda in mind.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/05/22/iraq/main555157.shtml

[Wonder]

29. THE NATION: An article re: OSP

Yes, essentially this IS Iran-Contra all over again. There were various articles here last week regarding the OSP. I am not sure the nation was one but just as a refresher.

THE NATION

snip
"The same unit that fed Chalabi's intelligence on WMD to Rumsfeld was also feeding him Chalabi's stuff on the prospects for postwar Iraq," said a leading US government expert on the Middle East. Says a former US ambassador with strong links to the CIA: "There was certainly information coming from the Iraqi exile community, including Chalabi--who was detested by the CIA and by the State Department--saying, 'They will welcome you with open arms.'" Rumsfeld's willingness to accept that view led him to contradict the Chief of Staff of the US Army, who predicted that it would take hundreds of thousands of troops to control Iraq after the fall of Baghdad, a view that seems prescient today.

According to the former official, also feeding information to the Office of Special Plans was a secret, rump unit established last year in the office of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of Israel. This unit, which paralleled Shulsky's--and which has not previously been reported--prepared intelligence reports on Iraq in English (not Hebrew) and forwarded them to the Office of Special Plans. It was created in Sharon's office, not inside Israel's Mossad intelligence service, because the Mossad--which prides itself on extreme professionalism--had views closer to the CIA's, not the Pentagon's, on Iraq. This secretive unit, and not the Mossad, may well have been the source of the forged documents purporting to show that Iraq tried to purchase yellowcake uranium for weapons from Niger in West Africa, according to the former official.

The catastrophic result of the belief that it would be easy to pacify postwar Iraq and to create a quisling government in Baghdad, a view that was codified as dogma by the White House, is unfolding daily in Iraq. The country is engulfed in economic and political chaos, armed resistance is growing among the Sunni Muslims in central Iraq, and the powerful and largely hostile Shiite clergy in the south has barely begun to flex its muscles. Not only that, but Iraq watchers report that former Baath Party members are coalescing into nascent political formations, leading armed resistance to the occupation, and that they could emerge as either a strong political party or an underground terrorist group.

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20030707&s=dreyfuss


I do not want this to come across funny, but note the Sharon connection mentioned in The Nation article. Like Iran-Contra it will be interesting if this connection is played down in uraniumgate as well.

I skimmed this article quickly, bookmarking it for later. It seems while the posted article reports on many of the same points touched up in The Nation article, there does not seem to be any mention of the OSP that was created in Sharon's Office last year. I guess this is another operation if not persued gives Sharon's Government denialability/plausability = no responsibility, if they fail to break this open wide enough to actually bring this US shadow government down.

[LauraK]

26. A funny spoof site!

http://www.officeofspecialplans.com/

[pfitz59]

30. Fantastic!

Will enjoy until Poindexter and his trolls destroy it!

[hang a left]

27. Damnit This Needs

To get out there, more coverage

[leftchick]

28. impossible! dead bodies make for better tv..

:crazy:

[Bozola]

33. "secret Pentagon group manipulated intelligence"

con·spir·a·cy (kon-spîr'a-se;)
n., pl. -cies.

An agreement to perform together an illegal, wrongful, or subversive act.


Sounds like a bevy of traitors to me! Hanging's too good fer 'em, death by enema, I say!




"Paranoia is the fear of unreal weirdos; who has time for phantoms? It's the real ones you've got to watch out for."

-Odd Bodkins, Dan O'Neill

[newyawker99]

34. kick

:kick:

[Must_B_Free]

40. Hoho! You tinfoil hat people make me laugh!

Conspiracy... Ha Ha Ha!

</sarcasm>

[Bandit]

35. Bookmark this page because it's the last you will ever hear of it

This is the kind of info that will be delibertly lost in a black hole.

[Dover]

36. Didn't Jane Harmon (D or Calif.) mention an independent Intelligence cell'

working out of the Pentagon that wasn't controlled by the CIA or Justice Dept.? She also said the Treasury would be broke by next year. I'll see if I can find a link.

[PROGRESSIVE1]

41. Oh Really.........

like we didn't already know that.

:eyes:

[0007]

42. It's about fucking time!

junior just dropped another ten points in the polls.

Who will be trotted out this Sunday to meet the News Man?

[Oilwellian]

43. I know I just read an article stating....

The Senate Intelligence Committee is investigating the OSP. If I can remember which article it was, I'll post later.

[Trajan]

45. Isnt it amazing ? .....

We here at DU have been on THIS story for many months now: KNOWING that Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Cheney and the PNAC cabal designed the OSP SPECIFICALLY to disinfrorm the world and the american electorate about ME intelligence .....

The proper Neo-Straussian DEMANDS a bogeyman exists behind every Lollipop ...... If you dont believe tham ? ..... you are a TRAITOR ! ....

ANY organization formed by these egodriven maniacs MUST by its core nature be disinformative .....

PURE lies .....

And WE already knew that .....